Mentors and Mishaps
by JustThoseGuys
Summary: Follow the adventures of Beacon's new group of students, team SABR, as they aspire to become hunters. The team is going to be apart of a new program at Beacon, where an older team is selected to mentor a younger one. And for SABR, they get none other that team RWBY! What's the worst that could go wrong? Rated T for language. Set one year in the future.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey guys, welcome to JustThoseGuys first ever fanfic! This is an idea we've been bouncing around for a couple months now and me and my best friend finally decided to go through with it. I try to make everything as smooth as possible so you guys have the best possible experience. Be sure to favorite, follow, refer, and review! I greatly appreciate you guy's time, and any thing you guys notice that could help improve your reading experience is valued, be it ideas for the story, comments on writing style, or even if it's just something you like or dislike. I will also be accepting some OC's for a limited time. So, without further ado, here is chapter one of Mentors and Mishaps!**

 **Disclaimer: This is the only time I ever will say this. I do not own RWBY, all rights belong to Rooster Teeth, and God bless Monty Oum.**

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 **Chapter 1: Not So Humble Beginnings**

 **T horben Sage**

A cool breeze blew through my hair as I took in the scene of the forest beneath me. Even though standing on a launch pad at the end of a cliff was _not_ the way I figured my initiation at Beacon would begin, somehow I'm not surprised. The stories my older brother used to tell me about this place while he was still alive had me slightly more prepared than the rest of my classmates, but it is still a shock to be told your entrance exam involves being launched at roughly 100 miles an hour into a Grimm infested forest, all to find a stupid _chess piece._ Funny how Beranger never mentioned that one.

I glanced over at Professor Ozpin, who had just taken his place in front of us. "Today, each of you will be given partners. It is vital to select someone you can work well with. That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after you land will be your partner for the next four years." To my left is my close friend Axel Beltz, who gave me a snarl and a thumbs up at Ozpin's recent declaration. "Students," the professor continued, "good luck in the forest below. I do not need to warn you any further about the dangers that lurk within the forest. I hope you all return in one piece."

With that, the launch pads began to click and whirr, catapulting students one by one off into the emerald boughs. Two spots down to my right, a girl with light violet hair braided down her back raised her hand. "U-uh, Professor Ozpin sir?"

The professor raised an eyebrow, "Yes Amethyst?"

"A-are you sure there, um, isn't a better way to, maybe, get us into the forest?" She asked with a nervous smile.

Professor Ozpin replied with an ever stoic expression, "I'm fairly certain there are more efficient ways to go about this." By this time, two more students had launched, and Axel was wearing his trademark maniacal grin. "However," continued Ozpin, "there are, by far, none quite so entertaining." The look of sheer horror on Amethyst face was enough to send Axel into a fit of hysterical laughter as he launched into the miles of trees. I took a deep breath and readied my mind and body as I felt the plate beneath me shift, and I fired off deep into the shaded undergrowth of the Emerald Forest.

I slid my weapon, Asbjorn, off my back and settled it comfortably onto my left arm. It was a large shield, large enough to shield most of my 6'5", 275 pound frame with ease. It was shaped in the form of an upside down triangle, and had long swirling emerald trim engraved into an ivory surface that circled around a golden center emboss. When necessary, my shield can split into two connected halves that can function as a bow. With Asbjorn at the ready I strolled through the forest at a leisurely pace. I was in my natural habitat; the hunter of the forest; the great prowling bear. It felt good to be walking between the trees. It reminded me of the woods just outside of my home that I used to roam during my free hours. The smell of nature flooded my nostrils, and I took a moment to take it all in. My peaceful reminiscence was rudely interrupted by the arrival of a familiar black-haired jackass. He took a moment to dust off his black-plated combat pants, and to readjust the blades strapped to his thighs. His twin swords, Infernos Ceifeira, or as he affectionately referred to them, his cutty-stabby thingies, were tied snugly around his thin legs. The sword on his right thigh was a dark red color, and always seemed to smolder. The sword on his left was complete black and seemed to swallow all light. Both swords were designed in the same way, with the blade edge outline, and the center of the blade was a hole.

He looked up, and we locked gazes for a moment. Mine was one of utter exasperation, his glinting with dangerous excitement that I had become all too familiar with. Finally, I gave in and grinned at him. "Fancy meeting you here. Now that we're partners, I'm guessing you wanna go show off and kill stuff, huh? The usual?" Axel drew his twin blades, and joined them at the hilts to form a formidable double-bladed sword. He regarded me for a moment, "You know it, partner!" His grin grew even wider when a roar sounded not far off. "C'mon teddy," he sneered as he begin to race towards the sounds, "we're gonna miss the action if you can't keep up!"

I shook my head at his nickname for me, far beyond caring about his, _less than stellar_ social skills. I began to trot after him, wondering just what I had gotten myself into. We burst into a clearing and, much to my chagrin we discovered four Ursas converging upon a familiar purple girl. She was having a hard time fighting them off, and it seemed that they were trying to corner her. I gave a low growl, "This is my territory…" I trailed as Axel and I charged the four Grimm.

Axel launches into the air, spinning and sinking his Infernos Ceifeira into an Ursa's back. He then spun around kicking the other and momentarily stunning it. Meanwhile I charge the Ursa and grab it by the head; I spin and launch it into the air. As it descends at high speed, I jump and raise my shield up to meet it. Upon landing I turn, draw an arrow from the quiver strapped to my thigh, and using the bow feature of my shield, I let loose a shot that flies tears a large hole in the next Ursa's chest. Satisfied by the two successful kills, I turn and watch as Axel charges the final Ursa.

The Ursa had begun chasing the girl in purple that we had seen at the launch, Axel sprints at the Ursa determined to make the kill. Axel drops low and raises his left blade, preparing to slide under it and split open its belly. It seemed to be a fitting final move for the situation. Axel never was one to shy away from showing off. Suddenly, a boy in a vested hoodie bursts from the trees and punches the Ursa, causing Axel to miss. The mystery boy then turns and charges his vest and gauntlets with red dust; he lets loose a barrage of hits. Fire begins shooting out with every punch, each hitting its target with deadly accuracy. The Ursa drops, burnt to a crisp.

I walk up to the girl, who I recognize now as Amethyst, and I give her a quick look over. She's wearing a black beanie over her braided, waist-length violet hair. She has on a simple necklace with three jewels arranged in a triangle at the end of the chain. Her black denim sleeveless jacket covers up a light purple tank top. She had a mid-thigh length black battle skirt that faded to a deep purple, and she wore violet leggings that went all the way down to her black combat boots. The most stunning thing about her was her eyes, a deep violet color, and they hinted at barely contained apprehension.

I stuck my hand out and smiled, "Name's Thor-" The new kid, apparently not thinking straight, came out of nowhere and sucker punched me in the chest. "Oof!" I exclaimed as I staggered back about two steps. It wasn't that it necessarily hurt, that being due to my extremely hardy constitution and general size, but more it being a surprise. I was about to show the boy how to throw a real punch when suddenly two blades appeared at his throat. Now normally I wouldn't be afraid, because most people just use that tactic for intimidation. Knowing Axel, however, I genuinely feared for the man's life. I've seen him try to kill people for less.

The new kid obviously didn't pick up on this, so I had to get Axel to back off before the other boy decided to do anything else idiotic. "Axel, heel boy! Heel!" Axel slowly removed his blades from their position at the boy's neck, all while grumbling, "And the _bear_ is the one to tell me to heel…" I sighed and decided I've had enough crap for one day. I looked at the boy, who was standing in front of Amethyst defensively. _So it's gonna be one of those days huh._ I thought to myself. _Jesus, there's only so much I can put up with._

I cleared my throat and decided to start anew. "Ahem, I believe we got off on the wrong foot…"

"Can I kill this guy and get it over with already?"

"Shut the hell up Axel I'm trying to make friends," I retorted. I raised my hands in gesture of peace. "Anyway, let's start with introductions. My name is Thorben Sage. Former resident of the great kingdom of Atlas, top five graduate of Signal Academy. That douche bag over there is my friend Axel Beltz, formerly of Vale, and the only reason he managed to graduate top ten is because I kept him from getting kicked out."

The strange boy visibly relaxed, and met my gaze. "Name's Rust, Rust Ferrum. Graduated top of my class at Sanctum Academy. I also grew up in Mistral." I took this opportunity to question Rust, "Now that that's out of the way, WHY THE HELL DID YOU PUNCH ME EARLIER?!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Welcome to Chapter Two. Quick word, I will only put up an A/N when I feel it is necessary to say something. We will be taking this fanfic a little slow to make sure we write the best possible story, and because our summer schedules are going to get real hectic real soon. Any way, enjoy chapter two, and always fav, follow, and review! Oh, and I just figured out how to add line breaks!**

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 **Chapter 2: Not So Humble Beginnings Pt. 2**

 **Axel Beltz**

I sat in the shade of a nearby tree as Thorben and Rust were at each other's throats. They may say it's all in the name of diplomacy, but hey man; I just call it like I see it. Thorben looked practically the same as he did when we were kids, except he's practically twice the size of when I first met him. His scruffy light brown hair is more unkempt that usual, and I'm sure that his forest green eyes were boring holes into Rust. He wore a golden tank top with a deep green cutoff cloak. He had two gilded ringlets around his biceps, and fingerless combat gloves. His pants were the higher-quality version of mine, complete with thicker, more extravagant plating and shaded in green and gold colors. Out of all the things he was wearing, the thing that stood out the most was actually his plain leather combat boots. Being kingly sure makes you stick out like a sore thumb when you wear something simple.

On the other hand, Rust looked almost the opposite. His slicked back gray hair was partially hidden under a hood. He had burning orange eyes that seemed out of place among his worn attire. His vested hoodie looked like it might have been a vibrant orange at one point, but has long since faded with use to a brownish-red color. Couple that with his torn jeans, old sneakers, and overstuffed backpack, and he looked like a downright hobo.

It was a comical scene really, until I heard something to my right that scared me more that Thorben's mother's Thursday casserole. "H-hello. My name is Amethyst. Is that guy over there your partner?" She said gesturing towards Thorben.

I froze, unsure how to deal with this situation. _This is one of those trick questions isn't it? Women always have trick questions, right!? Just agree. Women like agreement._ "Y-yes," I stammered out at last. Amethyst looked at Thorben and smiled, "He seems like a very kind person. You're lucky to have a partner like him." She looked back at me, and I felt about ready to puke, pass out, run, or all three.

All these feelings were immediately eliminated when I heard perhaps the dumbest thing in my entire life, besides Thorben's dad pretending he is the Pillsbury doughboy. "You wanna fight me tough guy?!" I knew Rust was screwed up in the head, but I didn't think he was worse than me. Thorben eyes flash with pride. "I accept your challenge, but I don't believe you are worthy to face me. Axel, will you be our mediator and start the battle for us please?"

I sighed in relief at no longer having to talk to Amethyst, and Thorben walked to the other side of the clearing. When I saw that both sides were ready, I cleared my throat and said, "3, 2, 1, begin!"

Rust begins the fight; leaping into the air as he switched his dust canisters to blue. Doing a (In my eyes) pitifully executed backflip, he lands and punches the ground. Ice spikes shoot towards Thorben, who is calmly standing where he began. In response to the multiple razor sharp ice spikes flying towards him at extreme speeds, Thorben plants his shield and easily stops all of the ice spikes. Pulling out a small rag and wiping ice shards off the shield he looks up and chuckles. "Hehe, is that all you can do Rust? Seems like I was right about you."

Thorben charged forward and attempted to side swipe Rust with his oversized shield. In this time, Rust had changed his dust canisters to red and quickly emitted extremely powerful bursts of fire at the front of the shield launching him back. Rust rebounded off the nearest tree and switched to the offensive as he free falled towards Thorben. Looking up, Thorben turned his shield to the side and launched upward, the edged side of his shield closing in on Rust's face.

Moments away from making Rust required complete facial reconstruction, Thorben spins and slams the emboss of his shield into Rust's side. Rust flew to the side and slammed into a tree, a cracking sound making it quite obvious that several ribs were cracked. Still determined to win, Rust charged his opponent with the intent to kill, flipping over his shield he slams both gloves charged with red dust onto Thorben's back, leaving two huge scorch marks and causing Thorben to fall forward onto the ground. I laughed at Rust's first hit. "Hey Rust, did you finally decide to be smart enough not to aim for the ridiculously huge shield?"

Thorben rose, towering over Rust. I swear I could hear Rust's heart beat faster as he took a step back. Thorben's bear Faunus instincts took over as he cocked back a fist and punched Rust as hard as he can, causing him to gasp for air as he flew past us all and crashing through the tree directly behind me.

I decided to call the match before Thorben killed Rust with his own arm. "Okay, Okay! The match is over and it's fairly obvious who the winner is! Now can we get on with the initiation, because I'm fairly certain that by the time we get to the temple every damn relic will be gone!"

Thorben looked over at Rust, who was slowly rising from the wreckage of the tree and incoherently mumbling about how he could have won. He gave a short harrumph, satisfied that he had made his point, and turned to head into the forest. He was interrupted by a shout from Rust's direction. "Hey!" I froze when I noticed it was Amethyst doing the shouting. Thank God it wasn't directed at me.

Amethyst continued, "The least you could do for destroying his ribs, internal organs, and pride is to help him out, ya know. At least until we can get him to Beacon's medical staff." Thorben gazed long and hard at Amethyst, contemplating what to say, and I was perfectly fine with letting him do the talking. Girls scare me man.

He looked over at Rust, and noticed the now healthy dose of respect in his eyes. Thorben sighed, and shook his head before saying, "Fine. You can come along with us until we complete initiation. I'd feel bad if I was the reason another student failed."

With that, Rust looked to Amethyst, who had Rust arm over her shoulder to help support him, and gave her a pained, albeit sincere grin. Amethyst smiled right back as Rust said, "Thanks for the support. I guess this makes us partners huh?"

"You betcha. Now c'mon, we've got an initiation to ace!" Amethyst replied. Thorben finally cracked a smile at the newly formed duo. "Let's go. It's nearly nighttime, and I'm fairly certain this isn't the place you wanna be when it gets dark. According to the map that Axel, ahem, _borrowed_ from Professor Ozpin, the temple is only about a mile from this clearing."

With that, Thorben turned and headed off into the forest, going northeast. I turned around and looked at Rust and Amethyst, carefully avoiding eye contact, and then followed after Thorben. The other two were not far behind, as evident by the extreme amounts of sound they made.

Besides Rust and Amethyst's struggles to keep up, the trip was mostly silent. I decided to blow off some steam and tried to ease the tension. "Hey guys, have you ever tried eating a clock?" I paused for dramatic effect. "It's very time consuming." Thorben abruptly came to a halt and turned to face me, one eyebrow cocked at me and a half-smirk on his face.

Amethyst immediately burst out laughing. It felt nice to have someone appreciate my jokes, but I would have given anything for it to be almost ANYONE ELSE. Rust just gave a quiet chuckle and shook his head at my absolutely amazing pun. I'm surprised there weren't Nevermore falling out of the sky laughing.

About this time we reached the temple. As I ingeniously deduced, we were incredibly late, and the only two pieces left were the white knights. Thorben said sarcastically, "This is the most difficult choice of my entire life. I just can't decide which piece to pick. I could either pick a white knight, or a white knight."

Rust called out, and winced while doing so, "Pick the white one!" He actually got a chuckle out of Thorben. I have no idea how that guy doesn't hold grudges. I mean, I have a grudge on my 2nd grade teacher for spelling my name Belts instead of Beltz.

Amethyst set Rust down gently, and proceeded to grab the piece on the left. She took the other one and tossed it to me. I was so surprised that I threw the piece in the air and made up some BS excuse to explain it. "It's a trap!" I yelled, stumbling backwards. _I am a total fricking geni-._ My thoughts were interrupted by me suddenly tumbling back into a large cave.

Thorben yelled from outside, "Axel! You okay in there? I caught the chess piece for you!" I was about to reply when I was cut off by a very loud hissing noise. I turned and exclaimed, "Uh, rude!" And then I saw the massive mother-loving Deathstalker. I squealed like a 6th girl at a One Direction concert and ran my ass out of that cave.

The Deathstalker slowly rumbled out of its nest, and set its eyes on the four of us. "Shit!" I yelled as I ran and skidded to a halt beside Rust and Amethyst. "Ok um… GO!?" I shouted as I charged the Deathstalker. Thorben sighed and charged after me. Amethyst slowly dragged Rust behind a tree, so he won't be at risk of dying. I jumped and landed on the Deathstalker, repeatedly stabbing it to no avail.

"Do something Thorben!" I shouted as I was thrown from the monster-sized Grimm's back. He yelled in response, "I can't save your ass all the time string-bean!" Thorben rolled as the Deathstalker's stinger struck his previous position. He spun clockwise, and slammed the edge of his shield into the Deathstalker's eyes. Temporarily blinded, the Deathstalker lashed out in all directions, slamming against Thorben's shield and barely missing me on several occasions.

Amethyst began shooting its tail trying to throw it off course, while Thorben and I had crept around for a crippling blow. All at once, Thorben smashed his shield down on the Deathstalker's stinger pinning it, while Amethyst fired at the Deathstalker's pincers and front legs, keeping it from moving. I charged forward and began slicing at the Deathstalker's stinger, hoping to sever it from the body. After many slashes to its tail, it finally drops limply to the ground.

Thorben and I wipe our brows and look at each other smirking. In that small gap of time the Deathstalker had managed to move and trap Amethyst. "A little help over here!" Rust shouted as he limped forward toward the Deathstalker. Thorben and I look over and see the current situation; Amethyst had been trapped in a small indention in the cliff wall. The Deathstalker stopped any chances of escaped as it slowly moved closer toward her, and death seemed imminent. "No!" Rust screamed as he lunged towards the Deathstalker unarmed. We all gasped at the sight in front of us. As Rust came in contact with the beast, its exoskeleton and body within it crumbled to dust.

After a long awkward silence, I whispered, "Holy Dust..."

"Yea…" Thorben added.

Amethyst was staring intensely at Rust the whole time. He picked up on it fairly quickly, "Like what you see?" He said with what I hope to Dust was not what he believed to be a "sexy" smirk. It was at this moment that the gravity of situation caused me to puke my guts out. Amethyst went bright red, much to my surprise, as I believed she'd turn a bright purple before anything else.

Thorben finally had the common sense to ask the question we'd all been thinking. "What the HELL was that?!" Rust's smirk immediately shifted to a sad state, and I couldn't suppress a gleeful chuckle at his pain, even though I was still heaving a little bit.

Fortunately for Rust and unfortunately for me, Amethyst, who was still a little pink (Ok, a lot pink, but that's just her natural color), decided to save him and ruin my entertainment. "Look, Thorben, now isn't the best of times to have this discussion. I say we get the chess pieces and get out of here, because he still needs medical attention, we are horrendously late, and it is definitely still not safe. He can tell us what happened when he feels comfortable, so don't pressure him."

Rust looked at her with gratitude, and gave her a small, "Thanks." It sickened me. My worst enemy and my greatest fear on one team. It was going to be a looooooooooong four years at Beacon. Thorben merely grunted agreement, and we began our trek back to Beacon.

We arrived at nightfall, and made small talk during the trip. Rust was the only one who didn't really partake in the conversation, since the pain in his cracked ribs had acted up. We learned that Amethyst had come from the Kingdom of Vacuo, and she had been the youngest of 7 siblings. She nervously laughed off a lot of issues she brought up about her not having the abilities of her siblings, often saying things like, "It's fine," or, "I'm here now aren't I."

In return, Thorben shared that he and I lived in the snowy forests of Atlas with his parents, and that they found me and took me in as a young child when they made one of their rare trips to Vale, my former home. I glared at him for sharing private information, and he returned with a look that said, 'Care to answer for yourself?' I hope the message my gaze returned was, 'To hell with that and to you.'

When we entered the infirmary, Rust was mostly able to stand on his own. He still had to have help getting around, and was finally talking a bit now that he had grown accustomed with the pain.

The nurse asked, "What happened to him? What injury did he sustain?" Thorben replied, "Murdered a tree with his body." The nurse gave him a blank stare. Amethyst quickly interjected, "Thorben here punched my partner through a tree, and in the process cracked several ribs.

The nurse nodded knowingly, "Of course. I'll have him patched up and ready to go in couple days. Be sure to drop by and say hello. They say friends help with the healing process." The nurse tried to give Rust a fist bump, which he gazed at confused, until he realized her underlying meaning and started blushing.

We all shared a good laugh at that one before going to grab some shut eye.

* * *

Professor Ozpin finished watching the video tape of the four students, while his prodigal team, RWBY, sat around him.

"So, what did you girls think? Have you decided on who you would like to mentor this year? I do hope you enjoy this new program."

Ruby immediately popped up and answered, "They look great! It almost reminds me of us when we first met, and now look at us! Besides CFVY, we are the best team on campus! It'll be so much fun! Oh, and I want the girl…" she added almost as an afterthought.

Weiss quickly challenged her, "No fair! Why do you get the girl? All three of those boys look like complete snobs. Especially the big one! He seems like an absolutely disgusting monster! Besides, knowing you, she'll never know what it means to be ladylike! I think I should have the girl!"

While Weiss and Ruby argued on who would have Amethyst as their pupil, Blake calmly stood up, looked at Professor Ozpin and said, "I would prefer to have the boy in black study under me, if at all possible." Professor Ozpin nodded and said, "That's one off the board, only three left."

Yang jumped in, looking all fired up, "I'll take fire boy. His punches are a little weak, but under me, he'll learn a thing or two." She stated with a cocky smirk and a wink.

"Very well then, I'll see to it that you are accommodated." Professor Ozpin replied.

By this time, Weiss had finally decided she had had enough, and gave in. "Fine! Take the stupid girl! My pupil will be way better than yours!" with that she turned to Professor Ozpin, "Who is left available sir? I would prefer the boy who was able to command fire and ice."

Ozpin answered, "Already taken I'm afraid." Weiss looked at him in shock. "What about the boy who is terrified of girls? He would be manageable.

"Again, already spoken for."

Ruby picked this moment to jump in, "I'm getting the girl in purple!" With that, she raced off to her dorm.

Weiss groaned, "Well than, who's left?"

Ozpin said, "It appears the only student left is the large man in green and gold." Weiss sank to her knees in disbelief. She had been hoping to get someone, ANYONE, other than the massive hunter, preferably someone she could easily intimidate.

With a rueful smile, Weiss said, "Well sir, I believe I have found my pupil."

Ozpin chuckled, "Indeed you have."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Axel… Still Afraid of Women**

 **Thorben Sag e**

I let out a long yawn as I began to wake up, the sound of an alarm clock blaring through what sounded like speakers, and I stretched out my limbs to get the blood flowing. I saw up and let my gaze wander sleepily around me. _Why am I laying in the middle of a hallway? What's for breakfast? Why in the world is Axel on the ceiling?_

My eyes darted open completely as I digested that last little tidbit. "Axel! How did you end up on the ceiling? And more importantly, why?" Axel opened one of his tightly shut eyes to peer down at me. He was hugging his Infernos Ciefiera, which happened to be deeply embedded into the roof, with a death grip.

"S… sc…scary w-w-woman!" It was about the only thing I could get out of him without physically removing him from his perch, and I was not in the mood for climbing at dawn. I sighed as I remember Axel's irrational fear of the opposite gender that he's had since our days in grade school.

I glanced around me to figure out who he was referring to, but all the girls in our class seemed to be oblivious to the speaker system, and were still deep in their blissful dreams about romantic dates with one hot actor or another.

"Ahem, I believe your fried is referring to me," came a smooth monotone voice from behind me. I craned my neck to get a better view. It looked like that women who was standing next to Professor Ozpin yesterday on the cliff, albeit upside down.

"And who might you be?" I questioned.

"I am the headmistress of this academy, and one of your teachers here at Beacon. My name is Glynda Goodwitch."

My jaw dropped, and my throat suddenly went dry. " Oh, uh, excuse my idiot friend here! He's just a little shy that's all. Please forgive his rudeness."

She stared at me impassively before dismissing it with a wave of her hand, "No matter, I'm only here to make sure everyone is prepared and on their way to the auditorium. There is a surprise waiting for all students."

"Of course, ma'am. My partner and I will be there." It was about this time that Amethyst chose to awaken.

"Hmm… Channing? Where'd you go…" she drifted off aimlessly before realizing where she was. She froze when I busted out laughing, and Ms. Goodwitch just shook her head with a sigh.

"I-I need to go change!" she yelled as she raced to the bathroom with her bag, her face a deep purple.

Ms. Goodwitch just gave her one last look as she raced off. "I expect all of you there by eight o'clock," she said as she went to rouse other students. I turned my attention to Axel. "C'mon down, your safe now. She left."

Axel opened his eyes and hissed, "There is no such thing as safety!" None the less, he proceeded to make his way down from the ceiling.

"How did you even get up there in the first place?" I asked.

"Fear is a powerful tool," he replied with a solemn tone.

"Whatever, look we've got about two and a half hours until we have to be in the auditorium. I say we get dressed, hit up the cafeteria for food, and then make our way there."

"Who died and put you in charge?" He grinned. I was glad that Axel was finally going back to his normal self.

"You know you couldn't do anything without me," I shot back.

"Ok," he said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes, "anyway, we might as well get going. I know how much you love to eat, and by the time you're finished I'll be surprised if there is any food left for the rest of the school."

I laughed at him, while my stomach rumbled enthusiastically in agreement. "You can't blame me, I haven't eaten since my midnight snack!"

We both just sat there laughing for a good while. After a few minutes we both grabbed our rucksacks and changed into our usual attire. When we were all set, we headed for the cafeteria.

I pulled out my scroll to check the map. "Why does this school have to be so freaking huge…" I muttered to myself when I saw the cafeteria was halfway on the other side of school. Axel just grunted. "Quit being a baby, you know you need the cardio anyway." I gave him a death glare, not needing words to tell him to shut up.

Although, I guess what he was saying had some truth. I was large even for my race, which is saying something when all the guys in the community you live in have competitions over who throws the biggest rock. Speaking of which, I still hold the record.

We walked for a good while, and we finally reached the cafeteria. _Man, even though I had a map this school is still so confusing,_ I thought to myself. I grabbed about four plates of food and sat down at the table nearest to the lunch line. Axel sat down next to me and raised an eyebrow quizzically.

"You're going a little light for what you usually eat, don't you think? You trying to lose weight or something?" He questioned.

I brushed it off and downed my four plates quickly. I looked at him, "You ever heard of a warmup? Well think of this as the pre-pre-pre-warmup, to my warmup, before my meal." I gave him a dangerous smile, sure to include my sharp back teeth.

I could see Axel visibly start to sweat with that one, and his eye twitched ever so slightly. He got up and began to walk off, "I'm going to go prepare the food servers," he called over his shoulder. I got up to follow him, and grab about three more plates of food.

I went back to my seat, but this time I was joined by someone I hadn't seen before. She wasn't present during initiation, so I looked her over. If I had to guess, she was a least a second year if not older by the way she carried herself. She had pure white hair, pale skin, and piercing ice blue eyes, the left one home to a scar. She was wearing a white bolero jacket that faded to light blue at the bottom and at the ends of the sleeves, and had red lining. She had a necklace that ended in a little snowflake, and she wore a white blouse and combat skirt that were white and faded to ice, and went to mid-thigh. She wore what looked to be a belt or scarf around her midsection, and on her right hip was a fierce looking rapier. From her legs down I couldn't make out because the table obstructed my view. The entire time I had been eating she was scanning me, seeming to see right through me.

I finished another plate and broke the silence, "Can I help you?" In response, she hmphd, and said, "I guess you'll do. I doubt you'll prove to be anything more that a hopeless brute."

That last bit made me choke on a piece of lamb. "Excuse me? Just who are you?"

"Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee company. I suggest you don't get on my bad side," she replied coldly.

I looked her over one last time. Her name definitely rang a bell, something about her or her team or something like that, where they were narrowly defeated in last year's Vytal tournament, by none other than the prestigious team CFVY.

"Whatever," I said nonchalantly as I returned to my food. I had better things to do besides be berated by some upperclassman.

She looked at me indignation before turning her nose up and walking off. In the back of my mind I registered that she was wearing midshin-length white combat boots. It was about this time that Axel came back.

"Took you long enough. Geez, did it really take you that long to work up the nerve to talk to a lunch lady?"

His I eye twitched again before replying coolly, "No, the two servers were male, thank you. I just saw that you were talking to a girl, and thought to myself, 'Hey, I really need to pee right now.' Funny how she left before I could get here."

I just looked at him and laughed. "You're hopeless with girls, you know that?"

Axel just decided to look at the ceiling.

"You miss it up there or something?" I teased.

"Shut the hell up. At least up there I don't have to listen to your incessant moaning about my love life."

"Wait, so you mean it exists?"

Axel just groaned and slammed his face into the table while I laughed and choked on a steak.

After about 25 more plates, I decided to look at my scroll to check the time. I began hacking up food, "Seven, *cough, cough*, 45? Dust, were gonna be late!" I shot up, waking Axel from the nap he'd been taking for the past two hours.

"Whosa what the what…?" he groggily tried. I grabbed him and slung him over my shoulder, "No time!" I yelled.

* * *

After about five minutes of continuous sprinting and Axel pounding my back, I was dying. I decided it was worth activating my semblance. My body began to go into overdrive, as my muscles began exploding with ten times the output of before, and my lungs and circulatory system grew proportionately efficient. My semblance is the ability to remove the limits on my body's physical output, but I can only keep it up for so long depending on how far I push myself.

We reached the auditorium with about two minutes two spare, and I finally was able to relax. I set Axel down and laid on the floor for about a minute, and then I heard Professor Ozpin's voice from inside.

"First-year students, please take your seats." I looked around and saw that Axel was nowhere to be found. _Probably already inside._ I groaned as I forced my aching body up, made my way in, and sure enough, there was Axel in the fifth row, two rows behind Amethyst and what looked to be a healthy Rust. I had been comtemplating how I should apologize for going overboard in our fight, but I could always do that later. Right now I had more pressing matters to attend to.

As I walked past rows of students, I noticed their heads turning and eyes widening with shock as they noticed my immense size. I was used to it though, because pretty much everywhere I went that was the reaction I got.

I finally took my seat next to Axel, and Ozpin began his speech. "I'll… keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge—to hone your craft and acquire new skills—and when you have finished, you plan to…"

My mind began to wander to the near future, and the possibility of my new who my teammates might be. I was already partnered with Axel, so there was at least one person I am familiar with who would be on my team. That left just two odd people I would inevitably have to fight alongside.

I was so consumed in my thoughts that I didn't look up until I felt Axel nudging my side. I looked at him and he said with a genuine smile, "Teddy, he's about to call us, and we're about to be real live hunters with I real live team! Although I don't know who our mentors are gonna be."

A confused look passed over my face, "Wait, what? Mentors? Berenger never said anything about that."

Axel rolled his eyes, "If you had been paying attention instead of daydreaming, you might have noticed when he let that one slip. Or you know, maybe all the other teams that had been called before us. Dude, sometimes you are denser than a sack of bricks."

I just gave him a little growl, but I wasn't really upset. I thought it might actually be fun, and if we accompany upperclassmen on missions than we might get to see some action.

Ozpin began his final announcement, "And last but not least, my I have the pairs of Thorben Sage and Axel Beltz, as well as Amethyst Cristallo and Rust Ferrum, please come to the stage. I merely stood passively, but Axel was not so content.

"WHAT! WHY DO I HAVE TO DO I HAVE TO BE PARTNERED WITH THAT STUPID SACK OF CRAP! HE'S JUST ASKING FOR ME TO KILL HIM!" Axel roared in anger.

"OH YEA DIRTBAG? WELL I'D LOVE TO SEE YOU TRY!" Rust answered right back. They sat there grrrrrring at each other and glaring daggers while I just grabbed Axel's arm and started dragging him to the stage.

Amethyst began nervously laughing, but her eyes were screaming for help while she tried to pull Rust the same way.

"If you can't even talk to him in a normal voice, Dust so help me he will be the least of your problems, and I will become a living nightmare. I'll introduce you to EVERY SINGLE girl in this school, and force you to sit with them each and every day." I threatened in a voice only he could hear. He immediately paled, and shot Rust the widest, cheesiest, most forced smile I have ever seen. It was bigger than the one he put on the time my dad accused him of sneaking ghost pepper powder into my dad's steak marinade.

Rust just looked at him confused, before laughing at the idiotic look on Axel's face. We continued to walk down the stairs, and before long both of our little pairs were standing on stage, excitement just radiating off our persons.

"From this day forth, you four will be one team, as determined by the white knights you chose, and you will be known as SABR, with Thorben as your leader." Professor Ozpin declared.

My brain shut down for a second. _I'm... a leader? Of my own team? I always told you I could do it Berenger._ However, Ozpin wasn't finished. "Because you chose the white knight pieces, your mentors will be the team that chose them last year. Your new mentors will be Team RWBY."

While my eyes it up at chance to learn from one of the best huntress teams in Remnant, Axel sank to his knees, and promptly curled into the fetal position. It was going to be a tough ride for him. "One, f-full y-y-year. Stud-dying under GIRLS." With that, his eyes rolled up in his head, and he passed out. Ozpin just raised a curious eyebrow.

None the less, he continued, while RWBY stood to make their way next to us, "Rust Ferrum, your individual mentor will be Yang Xiao Long." She gave a short woop and sauntered up to Rust. She had her flowing sun-gold hair down in her trademark look, and her lilac eyes burned with passion. Her slightly tanned skin fit perfectly in her outfit, which consisted of a tight yellow undershirt mostly covered by a brown leather jacket that exposed some of her midriff and stopped at her upper arm. She had on an orange scarf, and wore golden gauntlets with black finger less gloves. She had on black spanx and a brown combat skirt that had a white longer underskirt. Finally she wore brown leather boots that covered her shins, and orange leggings. On her right leg the leggings only came to her knee, but on the left leg, she wore a grey bandana tied right about the boot, and the legging went above her knee. Rust's eyes got wide at her natural beauty, before he went into his default cool guy routine.

"Don't worry baby, I'll protect you." He smiled, obviously was thinking he said something smooth. Yang grinned evilly at him, before socking him in the arm with a flaming fist, "But who's gonna protect you from me?" Rust nervously laughed while rubbing his arm.

Professor Ozpin moved to Axel next. "Axel Beltz, your individual mentor will be Blake Belladonna." Axel, who had finally regained consciousness, looked around fearfully for his mentor. It came from behind, "Hello," a soft voice said. Axel screamed in terror before turning around and shuffling backwards. However, he was greeted by the sight of a young woman in black reading a book, and she didn't look the least bit intrigued by Axel. Heck, she didn't look anything.

She had long black hair, and had a bow on top of her head. She had amber eyes with purple eye shadow that make her look slightly catlike, and they complimented her olive skin perfectly. She had her right wrist bound in black ribbons, and on her left arm she wore a black removable arm sleeve with a silver band around the bicep, while also having some ribbons on her wrist. She had on a while blouse with black trimmings and a black collar, and wore a black sleeveless jacket that didn't cover the top of her blouse, had coattails, and exposed a small portion of her stomach. She had on white shorts that may have been attached to her blouse, but you can't tell since her jacket obscures the view. Blake finally wore black leggings that started just under her hip and faded to purple at the bottom, where they were tucked into black heels. "H-hi," Axel fearfully mumbled. Blake merely nodded at him before returning to reading.

Ozpin's voice was heard yet again, "Amethyst Cristallo, your individual mentor will be Ruby Rose." The girl in question squealed in glee, and when I saw her, I could tell that she stayed true to her name. Ruby was shorter than the rest. She had pale, skin silver eyes, and short black hair with red tips. He wore a full length black jacket with red lining, a black corset with red laces, and a black combat skirt that had red trimming. She also wore black leggings that faded to dark red, and had black and red boots that came about halfway up her shin. Ruby's most standout feature however, was the red cloak she wore. She sped to Amethyst and smothered her. "Hi! I'm Ruby… but you can call me crat- just Ruby… wait, you already knew my name, sorry! We are gonna have a ton of fun!" Amethyst was swamped, but Ruby was completely oblivious to it.

Finally Ozpin called out my name, "Thorben Sage, your individual mentor will be Weiss Schnee." My jaw dropped. "You've got to be kidding me. Ms. Stuckup Ice Queen?" Weiss walked up to me. "Trust me, I wasn't any more pleased about this arrangement than you are now when I found out. I came to meet you in person to see what you would be like. Maybe training under me could teach you some manners."

"And maybe having me as your pupil could teach you some respect." I shot back bluntly.

Her eyes seemed to bore a hole right through me, "Count yourself lucky that we don't have sparring lessons today, or else I would make your life hell." She gave me one last icy glare before turning towards Ozpin.

The Professor wasted no time in wrapping things up, "All of you will be a team for the next four years, and you will have your mentors for one full year. I wish you and your team luck, and I do the same to all other teams formed here today."

I would be lying if I said I wasn't exciting about coming to Beacon, but I can definitely say I am off to a bad start. I glanced over at Weiss. _It's going to be a long year._


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hey guys, this chapter presents a little bit of background on Axel and Rust. Also, it is the first chapter to feature things from Rust's point of view, and the first chapter to have more than just one viewpoint! Please enjoy, rate, and review! Thanks, and on to the story!**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Back In The Saddle**

 **Axel Beltz**

 **13 Years Ago**

 _ **It was a rainy day in August. Bleak, dreary, all that you would expect out of fall showers in northern Vale. My five year old self is trailing my parents, having just left the clothing store. I didn't understand why I needed so many suits. A suit for this, a suit for that, a suit for preschool, a suit for summer, winter, fall, and spring. Oh, and a suit for days like today, a drab gray with a white undershirt, grey tie to match. The outfit was almost as boring as the day was, and it was already starting to get a little damp. Why can't I just wear normal clothes like everyone else?**_

" _ **Axel, dear, come over here next to mommy. You don't want to catch a cold out in the rain do you? I have an umbrella with your name on it."**_

 _ **I looked at my moderately tall mother. She was smiling. Dust I miss her smile. Those days it was few and far between, but I never knew why. "Mommy, you guys are too fast for me. Are we almost done?" I pouted.**_

" _ **Yes, just a couple more stops, honey. Now come get out of the rain." Her smiled was forced now, but I just obliged to try to make her happy. That's why I came on this trip in the first place instead of staying with Nana, to make her happy. I looked into her black eyes when I got close. I thought I saw a little bit of sadness in them. Mommy was never very good at hiding her emotions. She always said it was because of her Mistrailian descent; that her heritage made her very emotional. I liked her for it.**_

" _ **Axel, quit pouting, you know that's not very becoming of you. You must represent the family well." That was my stone-cold father. His family was Vale through and through, though I swear some Atlas snow must have come into the family bloodline at some point. "Yes, papa," was my simple response.**_

 _ **At first glance, it seemed like the husband and wife couldn't have been more different. My mother was a women of average height and a slim build. She wore a nice black dress that went to her mid-shins. Her beauty, however, was found in the deeply tanned tone of her skin, her deep black eyes, chocolate brown hair, and award-winning smile. It's just too bad that her smile was rare now-a-days.**_

 _ **My father on the other hand, was an ice sculpture. He had a steel gaze at all times and he rarely smiled. He kept his jet black hair swept professionally to the side, had a set line for his jaw, and had gray eyes that completed the look of consummate businessman. Being the CEO of the Vale stock exchange did that to you. He stood at around 6'2", had a terribly pale complexion, thin, wiry frame, and wore a suit that was the black of midnight. His black undershirt, black tie, and black shoes made him a walking black hole.**_

 _ **I had inherited the pale complexion, black hair, and body size of my father, but I had the black eyes, pure smile, and attitude of my mother.**_

 _ **We turned a corner to walk down a street lined with shops, but the street was empty. Street vendors shut down, no passerby or vehicles, and no one browsing inside the stores, even though they were open. It made the place feel sad.**_

" _ **Odd, during this time of day, even in rain like this, the street is usually bustling," my father remarked.**_

" _ **I'm sure it's nothing dear, after all, it is the holidays. People are probably out of town visiting relatives," replied my mother.**_

" _ **While that may be, it still is a little strange. No matter, it makes it easier to get around, I suppose."**_

 _ **No sooner did we take another step than the rumbling sound of an engine growing louder, and the ear-wrenching squeal of screaming tires reached us. All of that was drowned out by a loud and rapid popping, and the resulting smash of windows behind us.**_

" _ **Emilia, Axel, get down!" my father shouted before pushing us to the ground. A split second later, and red mist spewed from his torso as multiple bullet wounds appeared on his body.**_

 _ **My mother immediately crawled to the still form of my father, who was laying against the wall of the store behind us. "Abel, no! No, no, no! Please don't leave your son here alone! Don't leave me alone! Please, please, please…" my mother's words descended into wailing sobs as she cradled form of my father in her arms.**_

 _ **I was still from the shock, eyes wide, trying to figure out what had happened. Why was father bleeding? Why is mother crying? What's going on?**_

 _ **The sound made a return, as did the car, and I curled into a ball with my hands covering my ears. Once I was sure the sound was gone, I looked around. The car was gone, and the only remaining trace that it had been there were the broken windows and bullet holes. Mother had gone quiet. The only sound remaining was the pitter-patter of rain hitting the sidewalk.**_

 _ **I looked over at where mother and father were, but now, mother was slumped into father's body. I crawled to her, scared of what had happened. I struggled to roll over mother's limp frame, and I saw what happened. She had deep gash in her throat and was bleeding profusely.**_

 _ **I shook her several times, "Mommy, wake up! Wake up mommy! Mommy please, wake up! You promised you would buy me ice cream and play with me when we got home! Mommy please…" The tears began to well up in my eyes. I looked into her lifeless ones, and saw the same emotion from earlier.**_

 _ **I began to wail, hoping my crying would attract someone to help.**_

 _ **For the first time, I truly felt fear.**_

* * *

 **3:35 A.M.**

My eyes shot open, inky blackness all that I could see in the dead of night. _Why do I always have to remember that?Why does it haunt me no matter what I do?_ I sat up and dropped the sheets I didn't realize I was clutching, and I sat my face in my hands. I was drenched in a cold sweat, a reminder of the silent terror I had endured.

Tears were fresh on my cheeks, and yet I made no noise as I kept coming. My sobs were unheard in the deathly quiet of my dorm room. The only noise present was Thorben's soft snoring underneath me. After a few moments of lamenting, I got out of bed and crept to the bathroom, where I ran cold water and spalshed my face. I looked into the mirror and saw the reflection of my deceased parents.

I left the bathroom, only to find Thorben up and waiting for me. "Another bad night?" He whispered. He always seemed to know when I had that dream, and no matter how little noise I made he always woke. "C'mon, lets go to the roof and I'll help you calm down a bit."

He slid Asbjorn out from underneath his bunk, and proceeded out the door without waiting to see if I would follow. I grabbed Infernos Ciefeira stealthed out the door behind Thorben.

As we walked down the dark hallway, I had to look out for the silvery moonlight glinting off of Asbjorn's polished surface, and the dim light of Thorben's scroll as he followed a map of the school in order to keep track of him. We reached a set of stairs two hallways down from ours, and made our way out onto the roof.

In truth, the scene was beautiful, what with the full moon reflecting off the large waterfall in front of the academy, and the alabaster masonry of the school itself. I couldn't have cared less. Thorben turned from having memorized mother nature's breathtaking display to face me as he slid Asbjorn to it's resting place on his left arm. At any other time, I would have laughed at seeing him look so stern while wearing his favorite pj's, the green ones with a golden bear lunging across the chest. This was not one of those times.

I set the scabbards of Infernos Ciefiera aside, and withdrew the blades. Infernos I held in my right hand, rested across my shoulders, and Ciefiera in left horizontally in front of me, at about waist-level while I crouched down.

I loosed just a little bit of aura into the blades as I prepared to attack. Thorben merely set his shield and nodded at me.

I'd repeated this process so many times, it was habit, begin with horizontal slash, uppercut, spin kick, diagonal slash, reverse chop. This time was different than the rest, it felt different, cut a little deeper than the other times I had remembered that horrific day thirteen years ago. I changed my routine.

I pulsed aura into Ciefiera, and the blade darkened to the point that if you looked at it, your eyes hurt from the complete absence of light. It radiated a sickening darkness, and when I joined it at the hilt with Infernos, it's sister blade began to smolder. Thorben cocked an eyebrow at me, but said nothing as he braced himself.

I charged him, and twirled my blades as I danced to a deadly rythym, slicing the moonlight. I sped up, cutting through the air while my carbonium steel rang against Thorben's thyrium. I suddenly planted my left foot and just barely pushed off an inch from the ground, but suddenly, I was 20, 30, 40 feet in the air.

"Up!" I cried. Thorben's gaze snapped up to me, and he planted his feet, crouched underneath his shield, and waited for me. Downward I fell, spinning into a hurricane of ash and darkness, Infernos Ciefiera drawing a smoldering line from my place in the air that followed me to the ground.

A sharp, sudden, scraping clang resouded as my weapon clashed against Thorben's for the final time. I landed out of my spin, breathing heavy, the black smoking line of ash that ran through the air, onto Thorben's shield, and onto the ground dissipated into the air, no remant of the attack I just unleashed remaining, except a seemingly never-ending echo.

As I stood up, a figure clothed in black pyjamas stepped out from the shadow. "Well done, I take it that you couldn't sleep either?"

It was Blake.

Thorben walked up next to me, his Faunus eyes more easily seeing through the dimly lit darkness of the early morning. He said nothing, allowing me to decide on our next course of action. "Thorben, you can go back to bed, I'll be down in a minute. Thanks."

"Whatever you say, Axel," he turned to Blake, "Be sure to get him back to the dorms soon. He's had a long night." With that, he tossed me my scabbards that I had left on the other end of the roof and left.

It was Blake that broke the silence that followed, "That was an impressive display you put on there. If I had to guess, you might have even greater potential than your friend."

"My brother and I," I emphasized, "have never fought seriously. We didn't come out here for training, or for sport, and I sure as hell don't approve of you observing our little _display._ " I said laying on the sarcasm. I knew I was letting the emotions that were still lingering get to me. I knew that after the scene I made yesterday, I needed to make a good second impression here. I knew all of that, but at the moment, I didn't care. The only thing I did care about was being pissed that this chick had the nerve to interupt something so personal.

Blake replied calmly, "Well, I apologize, but let me explain. Since I have noted your apparent dislike of women, I thought that it might be difficult to see what you're capable of, since you might run away at any time. When I saw you and your brother come out here with your weapons I decided to sieze the oppurtunity and observe. However, I'm confused. Why I aren't you scared of me now?"

My eyes finally adjusted to the dim light, and I looked at her clearly. Her amber eyes stood out in the night and made her seem almost cat-like as they reflected the moon's dim glow. "Not in the mood," I replied, barely controlling myself.

"Oh, I see." She turned away and gestured for me to follow her. "We should go back to bed. I'll show you the way back to your dorm from here. You should mark it on your scroll's map. This spot is great when you need sometime alone." With that she started walking towards the door.

I took a few deep breaths to reign myself in. I almost the regretted it as the anger I had been feeling was replaced with sadness and loss. However, I trudged silently after my mentor, unwilling to let her see my plight. After a few minutes of walking, we reached my dorm. The door was slightly ajar, a sign that Thorben entered, and judging by the sounds from within the room, had already fallen asleep. I went to open the door, but was stopped a slim hand on my shoulder.

"I may be your mentor, but I'm also here to be your friend. If you need to talk, I'm here. I may know more about loss than you think."

I gasped just a little from shock. _I'm that easy to read, huh? Well two can play this game._

"Blake, you're a faunus, aren't you?" I felt no satisfaction when her hand recoiled just a little bit, but I couldn't stop now. "Doesn't feel so good when someone intrudes on things you'd rather keep hidden, does it?"

She stepped back. "How did you know?" Her voice was passive.

"Your eyes gave you away on the roof. I'd also be willing to bet that you have a pair of ears under that bow. Nobody wears a bow at four in the morning." Just a little bit of bitterness crept into my voice.

She replied stoically, "If you know what I am, then you must also know that someone like me has been through a lot. Like I said, if you need to talk, I'm willing to let you calm down some." She turned to walk down the hallway.

"Make sure you sleep well tonight. You look like you need it." With that, she was gone. I walked into my dorm, shut the door, and crawled into my bunk. I chuckled to myself quietly for a few moments. _Smooth Axel. You finally don't run away at the sight of a girl, and you do the best you can to piss her off. Nice._ I sighed one last time, and laid there for what seemed like an eternity before I was claimed by dreamless sleep.

* * *

 **Rust Ferrum**

I opened my eyes to the bright morning sun that flooded through our dorm window right onto me. Great. Just what I needed on my first official day as a student at Beacon. I yawned and stretched out in my bunk before I looked at my scroll to check the time. 7:30 sharp, which meant I had about an hour before I had to attend classes with my mentor, Yang Xiao Long. She was a looker, alright. And a puncher, and a flirter, and a… well, I'll just say she can have herself a bit of a temper. I learned quick not to even talk about her hair in a negative way. It can give a man nightmares to think about what she would do if someone touched it.

All I had said was it could get in the way during a fight, and she showed me just how it worked in a fight. It freaking exploded into flames is what it did. I was hurting for several hours after that one, to say the least.

I looked around the room. All the other members of newly christined Team SABR (really, they put me last?) were sound asleep, save Thorben, who was nowhere to be found. Good. I wasn't looking forward to speaking with him anyway. He'd probably say something about how he was better than the rest of us, or he might bring up my semblance. It seems like the rest of the team forgot. It's better that way really.

I sat up and started unwrapping my hands. It's been a habit of mine ever since the incident to wrap them when I sleep. That way I don't run the risk of doing something drastic in my sleep.

I shook my head before running a hand through my messy hair, and I grabbed my hair gel and towel as I walked toward the bathroom to get ready for the day. I took a shower, slicked my hair back, slid on my vest, Cometfall, and walked over to my bunk to slide a picture of my sister into the left front pocket of my vest. I clasped a pair full-arm guantlets to my vest sleeves.

I smiled as I felt the familiar rub of the worn lining. The vest had been a gift to me from my martial arts instructor back at Sanctum, Rhett Self. He always said, "An adventure is never an adventure unless it's difficult."

 _Looks like you weren't wrong old man._

I looked to the bunk above mine to check on Amethyst, only to see that she wasn't there. I tensed. _Where could she have gone? Did somet- wait, wait Rust. Calm down._

I forced myself to relax, and came to the conclusion that we are in the safest possible place for her to be, in a school, filled with competent fighters, and if she was among them she could probably handle herself. For all I know, she's just getting an early breakfast.

 _I seriously need to quit getting overprotective._

After a couple more deep breaths, I got up and went to walk out the door. As soon as I opened it, I was greeted by the familiar purple sight I had been fretting over just a second ago.

"Amethyst! I wondered where you went," I broke out in a small smile, "couldn't wait for breakfast could you?"

Her eyes held worry, and my smile faltered slightly. "Rust, come walk with me." She began to walk in the direction of the cafeteria, and I quickly jumped in tow.

"So, Amethyst, what's up? Ready for day one of our apprenticeship?"

She didn't even bother to answer my question, "Rust, what did you do during initiation? One second I'm about to be bug food for a Deathstalker and a moment later the thing crumbles to dust."

I slowed a bit and hung my head as I answered half-heartedly, "My semblance."

She stopped and turned to face me. "Really? What exactly is it? What's so wrong about it? You could do great things with it.

That last comment surprised me. I looked at her again and I realized that her worry wasn't from fear of my ability, but rather because she genuinely cared. I decided to give her the truth.

I began my story as we reached the cafeteria. "Yes it is. Rapid Decay is the technical term for it. Basically, anything I touch with my bare hands I can age and breakdown insanely fast, to the point that it can crumble in a few seconds."

Amethyst looked relieved and slightly amazed as she answered, "That's so cool! You could be a great hunter with that! Why don't you use it more often?"

 _Now comes the hard part_. By this point we had gotten our food and claimed our seats. I sighed before continuing, "It's kind of a long story. See, I grew up in Mistral. Normal family, aura, all that good stuff. When I was born, and up until I was about five, my life couldn't have been better. Dad was fun, mom was always smiling, sunshine and rainbows as far as the eye could see. When we found out that I was going to have a little sister, we all thought things couldn't help but get better. Turns out we were wrong. _Dead wrong._ "

I was hoping my emphasis prepared her for what came next, "During childbirth, my mother passed away. I'm just thankful that she had enough time to see her daughter's face, and to hear her name. Adamantine's birth was both a blessing and a curse. While she grew up, I swore she would never have to worry; that I would always have her back. I would always protect her."

My face and voice gave away my bitterness, "For the next eight years, it was just me, Adamantine, and my dad. During that time, dad became a violent drunk. Adamantine was the only thing that kept my father docile. She was the only thing that held him together, since she was all that was left of mom. Sure, we made good memories together when dad wasn't hitting the bottle, but the bad outweighed the good. One time when I was 13 and Adamantine was 8, dad got really angry, more angry than he had ever been before. This time, little sis couldn't calm him down. He started to scream at her while she started to cry, and I thought he was going to hurt her."

I was choking up by this point, and I barely registered Amethyst giving me a small hug, "At that point, something in me snapped, and I remember shoving my dad and yelling for him to stay away from her. After a bit I calmed down and that the person that was my father, a forty-two year old man, look to be in his sixties. He never spoke after that, except a few words to Adamantine. The worst part was, she was afraid of me, and treated me like a freak. She wanted nothing to do with me. I couldn't take that. So after a few days, I left. I was found by a man named Rhett Self, who became my mentor and took me to Signal Academy. After that, I came here. I have no idea how Adamantine or my dad is doing, but about a year ago I sent her a way to contact me. She's never responded. Ever since I've been insanely overprotective, and ashamed of my semblance. I promised myself I'd never hurt another person with it. So there you have it. My life story."

I started to cry into Amethyst's shoulder. She just hugged me tightly. The other students gave us a couple of looks, but they understood. Everybody who came here had baggage. After a few moments I composed myself and cracked a smile at Amethyst, "Thank you."

"What are partners for? Now come on. Ruby and Yang are probably waiting for us."

I just laughed and nodded as went to find our mentors.

* * *

"You are in for the ride of your life, Rust-y! Welcome to day one of Beacon classes!"

I honestly don't understand how the hell Yang thinks her nicknames are funny or endearing, considering she just adds a letter "y" to the end of their name, but it's not like I'd say that to her face.

The blonde was currently dragging me to the first class of the day, which happened to be Grimm studies with a professor name Port. From what Yang has told me, he tended to be long-winded.

"Yang, please let go of my arm, you're cutting off the blood flow. I think I can follow you just fine."

She let go and strolled bouyantly ahead. "Hurry up Rust-y or your gonna be late."

"Fine, fine. I'm coming flamebrain," I said rolling my eyes. She narrowed hers in response. "A jokester huh? Better enjoy the first part of the day, because once we get to combat training I'm not gonna hold anything back."

I made a little pair of shades using some ice dust and my gauntlets and put them on as if to say ' _Deal with it'._

Port's class dragged by, but it was a good time to meet the rest of Team RWBY, and to catch up with the rest of my team. Me and Yang had a seat in the front row next to Ruby and Amethyst, who were chatting up a storm while Port rambled on. I'm glad that she made a friend, even though it was kind of required since Ruby was her mentor. Thorben and Weiss were a row behind us, and there was some obvious tension in the air. Those two did not have a happy morning.

"Where's Blake?" I heard Yang ask no one in particular. _Blake? Oh yeah, the girl in black. She's Axel's mentor. Speaking of Axel, where is he?_

Ruby looked over at us for just a second to answer, "Oh, she said something about Ozpin giving her and her Axel a pass for today. Don't know why though," and with that, her and Amethyst went right back to talking about cute boys or something of that nature. Weiss spoke up behind me, "I wish Ozpin had given me a pass, then I wouldn't have to deal with this dolt for at least another day."

Thorben gave her a sickly sweet smile, "I'm sorry ice princess, if I've offended your highness, I beg forgiveness." I chuckled a bit at his sarcasm. Damn, turns out he can be funny.

The bell rang after what seemed like an eternity. "See you tomorrow class! I know you're all excited to hear the second quarter of my quest to vanquish a nest of Nevermores!" I could feel every student give a collective, inward groan.

"Phew! Finally! I'd forgotten how laaaaaaaame that class was. C'mon, let's get going to history. Oobleck doesn't like people being late or on time, so unless you're early you're screwed." While Yang pressed on, I followed behind contemplating why Blake and Axel got a pass. Weird, since it's the first day of classes. I decided to leave it alone for now.

The rest of the day went fairly quickly. History went _too_ quickly, and I couldn't keep my eyes on the teacher, seeing as he dissipated into a blur every five seconds. And I thought Ruby was fast. After that I had science and math with Professor Peach, and finally, combat with Professor Goodwitch.

"Ok students, welcome to Combat 101. Second years, you already know how this goes. As for you first years, this is how class works. During class, students will be selected to come demonstrate different aspects of fighting, and may be one on one, two on two, three on three, four on four, four on one, and so on. The basic rules of a spar are as follows: the fight lasts until all student's Aura of a particular team falls into the red; in the case of today it will be one on one. Students may also be defeated by knocking them or their weapon out of the ring. Today will be special, as you will be sparring with your mentors to see where you are at in terms of fighting prowess. The first match will be Thorben Sage and Weiss Schnee."

Thorben growled at hearing his name called, and Weiss huffed. Both of them looked eager to get at each other. The two took their place in the ring and Goodwitch raised her riding crop in the air. "I go over the rules one more time. Aura in the red, you're out. You or your weapon knocked out of the arena, you're out. Are you two ready?"

Both students grimly nodded. "3, 2, 1, begin!" Goodwitch's riding crop slashed through the air.

Weiss shifted to a battle stance, spun her dust cylinder, and launched at Thorben, who stood with shield ready.

 _Nice plan. Hope you enjoy finding out it doesn't work just as much as I did._ I thought to myself snarkily.

At the last possible moment before collision, a glyph appeared under Weiss' feet, propelling her into the air. I raised an eyebrow in surpise. Thorben, expecting a blow from the front, paused a moment as he looked around to find Weiss, who exploded off of a second glyph in the air, rocketing her down at Thorben at lightning speed. Thorben threw his shield up at the last second and deflected the sure knockout blow to the side, but Weiss was ready. As soon as she landed, she turned and lauched a flurry of icey slashes and stabs, and a few of them hit.

Thorben's aura was depleting quickly; at a much faster rate than normal. It was strange as to why he didn't use his semblance in the fight when Weiss was using hers eargerly. Weiss had kept up her string of attacks to this point, but suddenly was thrown off guard when Thorben ducked under a particulary dangerous attack with more speed than I thought possible. Thorben pivoted hard on his back foot, and swung his shield to bash Weiss in the side and send her flying. She recovered well though, and in mid-air used a glyph to stop herself before she crashed into the ceiling and went out of the ring.

She landed softly, and the two faced each other once more. Weiss scowled at Thorben who responded with a grim look. This time Thorben took the lead, dashing forward to swipe Weiss with his shield which she jumped over, but while she was in mid-jump Thorben caught her with a heavy fist, and smashed her into the ground. This whole time, I'd noticed, Thorben's aura had been slowly but steadily depleting, and he had been taking huge chunks out of Weiss' with each hit; at the moment both fighters sat at just under half.

Thorben jumped into the air, hoping to end the fight with one final move before Weiss could recover. Thorben smashed the ground as he landed, throwing up dust into the air; so much so that no one could see. After a few moments the dust cleared, and Goodwitch spoke, "And the winner is, Weiss Schnee." Weiss was standing just to Thorben's side with her sword glowing red at her side, and Thorben was on both his knees panting, clearly in pain as if he'd just ran for quite some time. His shield lay on the ground next to him. I noticed that he and Weiss were sharing some words, and he looked broken. A few seconds later and I painfully heard Yang and Ruby explode on either side of me.

"Yea! Go Weiss! You da bomb girl! Show them first years how it's done!"

"Weiss you're the best! Extra cookies for the whole team after that one!"

I looked back at Thorben and Weiss. _Strange, she's paying them no mind. I wonder what they were talking about._

After that, most of the other teams matches were fairly one sided, with the second years dominating the first years. Well, except for some kid named Juane, who's pupil beat him in a record 16 seconds. I felt bad for the poor guy.

"The final match of the day will be second year Yang Xiao Long and first year Rust Ferrum. Will the two of you please come up to the stage."

My mouth suddenly went dry. I looked over at Yang, who smirked at me and put on her aviators. "Ready to get your ass handed to you? Cuz I'm gonna enjoy beating some respect into your thick skull."

I laughed nervously as we began to walk down the stairs. There was only one thing running through my head. _What have I got myself into?_


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Just, Do It!**

* * *

 **Rust Ferrum**

I step into the center of the ring and look around, taking a quick glance at all of the cheering and shouting students eager to watch the match. My heart begins to race as I hear their voices pick up, turning I see Yang approaching me from the opposite side of the arena. Her golden hair trailing behind her as she waves at everyone, not taking her eyes off of me for a single second. I chuckle, "What's wrong goldilocks, scared to look away?" I mock, hoping to throw her off guard for even a second. She smirks and rolls her eyes, "Please, I could beat you with one eye closed and both hands behind my back." I stand back and look over at Professor Goodwitch, waiting anxiously for her to start the match. She steps back and lowers her hand signaling for us to begin the match.

I rush forward switching the dust in my vest to red, hoping to show Yang what true flames can do. She smirks and cocks an arm back launching it at me in response to my attack. Noticing that my previous strategy wasn't going to work I plant my foot into the ground and spin, kicking her arm aside just in time to be safe from the flames bursting from her gauntlet. She steps back and leaps upward, using ceiling she rebounds and flies towards me at extreme speed. Unsure what to do I launch backwards then flatten myself against the wall, punching behind me several times until I'm able to squeeze into the newly created hole. Yang slams into the ground, only a few feet in front of my hidey hole.

Seeing an opening I spring forward, switching to blue dust and attack her lower body, freezing her feet to the ground. I then quickly turn and leap as high as I can, switching to yellow dust. The tough, durable vest I previously had on quickly shifting and changing, the outer laying dissipating and a large cover of lightning taking its place, while the inner half tightens and changes to rubber protecting my skin from the extreme static being emitted from the outer layer. I turn and plant a foot onto the ceiling, copying Yang's earlier movements I freefall downwards quickly gaining insane amounts of speed. Yang, having just escaped the ice binding her to the ground looks upwards just in time to move out of the way as I slam into the stadium floor

Everyone watching begins to panic, unsure of what happened as it seemed like the building just had a lightning bolt crash through it. I stand and look around, my vest already reshaping into its previous solid form. "So much for that plan…" I mutter under my breath. My eyes drift towards Yang and I notice something that makes my heart stop and my mind and body freeze in fear. She stands across the ring, her hair cut about an inch off of its previously length and frizzed due to the static. Everyone in the room gasps, the rest of team RWBY begin yelling for everyone to run and begin evacuating themselves.

Yang turns and sets her sights towards me, her eyes now a pair of scarlet dots. Every part of me wanted to run screaming like a small school girl, but I was planted in place. Her overwhelming presence refusing to let me move a single step. She explodes screaming into flames and launches forward, swinging wildly.

I begin evading every punch she throws but only by a hair's thread. Her attacks slowly started getting faster and with my movements slowing from exhaustion, I knew I didn't have long. She swung trying to end me in a single blow, and trying to dodge I stumble backwards losing my footing. I hit the ground and come to a single realization: I'm about to die. Just as her fist is inches from her face she is lifted into the air and a small scream exits my mouth. Professor Goodwitch grunts as Yang struggles to get free and I curl into a ball fearing for my life. Goodwitch sighs, "Well I suppose that's enough sparring for one day, considering I now have to fix the arena and this entire portion of the school."

I peeked out from the ball I had curled into and took a quick glance around. The entire arena was leveled. Some of the braver students had begun picking their way through the wreckage, and as the dust was settling I could see that not only was the arena demolished, but also most of the surrounding school. "Did, Yang, do this? Holy crap, I was literally going to die. I would have never seen another day!" I curled up into the fetal position once more and started crying

Yang was still screaming bloody murder, and many things that should never fill the beautiful air we breathe were said. However, there is one phrase she said to me that I feel can be stated without overly offending many people. "I'm gonna mother(insert expletive string here) kill you, you sorry piece of trash!"

Goodwitch sighed painfully. "You know kid, I don't know whether you're stupid or brave. Everyone else at this school would have started running like a baby, but you held your ground. I guess you should just count yourself lucky, because right now you should be a crater in the ground."

Her words barely registered in my mind as I laid there replaying the events of my near death in perfect, horrifying detail. Goodwitch dragged off Yang to prevent her from going ballistic on me, and I stayed on the ground for hours, until I finally quit shivering from fear and I worked the nerve to stand on my shaking legs. As I took in the scene around me, I finally noticed that the arena had been fixed.

I blinked a few times. "What in Monty's name is going on…" I said confused. Finally my instincts got the better of me, and I puked all over the floor. "I need to sleep now…" I made the long, fearful walk to my dorm, and upon seeing Yang's absence, climbed in bed trembling. My one hope was that the nightmares will eventually go away.

* * *

 **Thorben Sage**

 **The Next Morning**

 _Icy little punk._

At the moment, I was having a difficult time containing myself. I was a damn Friday, and we didn't have classes, yet here I am walking along like a freaking _concierge,_ or whatever silly foreign word that Weiss used, at 7:30 in the morning so she could do some _shopping._

When she told me she had an important mission, I didn't think it was strolling around downtown Vale loading my arms with enough bags to sink a bullhead. _Thank you Monty for putting Axel in my life, because if I didn't have to deal with him I wouldn't have the patience for this._

"Thorben! Come over here this instant! You're lagging behind."

Not gonna lie, I lost it just a little bit. In a royal accent, "Oh do forgive me your highness, please spare your poor servant. It is quite tiresome to be treated as pack mule so early in the morning, especially when a teammate of mine could not contain his ungodly SCREAMS OF TERROR in the dead of night due to a yellow acquaintance of thou."

If looks could freeze, my soul would belong to Jack Frost right now. "We are here solely for your benefit, and you talk to me like that? I'm starting to regret taking you along, you ungrateful little prick."

I huffed a bit, "And what, pray tell, could possibly be beneficial about me be sleep-deprived and treated as a walking shopping cart?"

"Thorben, there is a reason for everything I do…"

"Like wearing a _combat skirt?_ Please Weiss, do try to be more fashionable. It reflects poorly on us all."

She ignored me and continued on, "… and that includes taking you with me on a shopping trip. Have you taken note of any of the stores we've been through?"

I gave the question a half-assed second of thought before answering, "The only one that comes to mind is the perfume shop you dragged me through. The only reason I can't blot that one from my memory is because I'm still having trouble breathing."

Weiss sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, a sight I've grown quickly accustomed to. We set off down the street as she began, "We've been to a weapons manufacturer, a Schnee Dust Company Depot, a perfume store, and a library. I've burned through my own personal funds just to buy stuff for you. Your shield needs improvement, you have absolutely no idea how to use dust despite having a teammate who all he uses to fight is dust, and I need reference materials to teach you. On top of that, I hope that the fragrances I picked up are enough to blot out your forest aroma. Damn it Thorben, we haven't even been to the most important stop yet!"

I growled a bit at her abrasive little speech, "Hey, nobody insults Asbjorn like that. He has sensitive feelings, and nobody can tune him up like I can." I started protectively polishing Asbjorn while pouting at Weiss.

She groaned exasperatedly as we walked along. "Fine whatever, but we're getting Ruby to take a look at that thing-"

"This _thing_ has a name and I'd prefer if you started using it."

"Whatever! Look the point is, Ruby is gonna see what possible upgrades might can be applied to Asbjorn and that's final!" She stomped her foot in frustration to emphasize her point. Even though Weiss had me in a sour mood, I couldn't help but crack a smile and chuckle a bit as we walked along. Upset Weiss is a laughable Weiss.

She gave me an annoyed glare as we pulled up in front of another building. This one was more high class than the rest. I shot Weiss a questioning glance, "What's this place?"

As we walked in, I took in the massive scope of the place gapingly while Weiss answered knowingly, "The greatest clothing store ever built on the face of Remnant. Welcome to the Hunting Lodge."

As far as the eye could see, which, in the case of my Faunus eyes was fairly excellent, there stretched what seemed to be miles and miles of equipment, clothing, combat gear, and beauty products stacked and ordered neatly on large shelves, and a fair number of customers perusing through the grandiose scene. "Wha- why are we here? This place is insane!"

Weiss smirked triumphantly and said, "This is why it was good for you to accompany me this morning."

I pondered a moment, "This place is cool and all, but what purpose does it have for me?"

Weiss sized me up, and after a moment replied, "Your clothes are hideous. No pupil of mine will wear such garbage. Come on, I have a couple of ideas on what you should wear, seeing as you will represent me in all areas." With that she turned and started walking down and isle to the right.

I groaned and slowly started walking after her. Only freaking Weiss could turn something so cool into a terrible experience. That woman has no sense of humility. Blatantly dissing my combat gear, and _she's_ the one that wears a skirt to fight monsters. Dust, some things I will never get over.

After a few minutes of browsing, Weiss had me in front of the changing rooms with a couple of different outfits to try on, which she handed to me after I sat about 60 to 70 bags down. "Here, try these on and I'll decide which one looks best."

"You truly are cold, ya know? You're trying to make me change my entire appearance, and I don't even get to pick my favorite? Yeesh."

She just rolled her eyes, "Fine, whatever. Go ahead and pick one."

Satisfied that I wouldn't end up wearing some idiotic man dress, I set out to pick the best. In the end, I settled on outfit number 7, which consisted of a green scarf and a white quiver, along with a Schnee company dust watch for accessories.

The top was a form-fitting white shirt with short sleeves that ended just above the bands on my arms, and had pure white shoulder pauldrons, white plating with gold trim going down the left arm, and a lunging golden bear symbol on the back, along with a small ice-blue snowflake on the left breast. The bottom was a pair of green cargo pants, tucked into arctic combat boots. All in all, it wasn't a bad look except for that I would never, EVER, wear it no matter how much demanding Weiss made. All the outfits were trash, and it's not like this one was any good. It just sucked less than the rest.

I walked out in my new attire, and Weiss, uncharacteristically, gave a nod of approval. "I was actually hoping you'd pick that one. It seems your taste in gear isn't completely worthless."

"Weiss, is it possible for you to not insult me when you compliment me? Because at this rate, the only thing I'm ever gonna learn from you is how not to make friends."

"That was a compliment, and if you don't like it, I can take it back," Weiss said as she turned away and crossed her arms.

I laughed, and threw my hands up in surrender. "Fine, fine, thanks Ice Queen. Now that's the best you're getting out of me, so let me change and we'll get going."

After I slipped back to the changing room and got into my usual clothing, I came out and game Weiss a small nod. As we turned to walk off, I noticed something strange, and it unsettled me. The store was deserted. _There's no way. This place was packed. How could so many people have just disappeared?_ I was thinking about this when I heard the entire building's fire alarms go off.

After that, I picked up a scent in the air, a wild one, and it set me on edge. I had a feeling that whatever it was had set the place up, and was definitely not in our best interests. "Weiss, get your rapier ready. Something doesn't seem right"

Weiss gave me a worried look while I slipped Asbjorn onto my arm. It was a comforting, because Asbjorn was about as reliable as death and taxes. "Thorben, what's wrong? How can you tell?"

I just gritted my teeth and kept walking. "I'll tell you in a minute. For now keep your eyes-"

 **Bang! Bang!**

Two huge explosions on either side of us launched splinters and flames everywhere. I only managed to escape the worst of the blasts because Weiss was quick enough to shoot both of us back off of glyphs she summoned. Hey, looks like Miss Priss isn't completely useless. _Damn it, now I have to thank her for something._

I got back to my feet as I saw a large figure, bigger than me even, stalking out of the smoke. Weiss, who was calmly standing next to me, didn't even look fazed. In fact, I'd say her eyes were harder than cold steel. "Thorben, he is in the White Fang, and is one of their top lieutenants. This beast and I squared off once before, and I am sorry to say he got the better of me. I suggest you stay back, and let me handle him. He won't beat me twice."

"Sorry Weiss, I don't do the whole hanging back thing very well. Besides, if this guy beat you once, wouldn't it be better to go two on one? Increase our odds?"

Before Weiss could respond, we were cut off by hysterical laughter. "Oh Schnee, I was so close to killing you before our playtime was so rudely interrupted ! But don't worry my dear! I'm sure no one will be able to stop me from introducing you to my best friend Death!" This set the crazy beast off into another fit of laughter.

 _Can you get anymore freakish? This dude is like an Ursa on cocaine…_ "Yea Weiss, I'm pretty sure we need to do this together. I mean, if he beats you, chances are I'll be his next target."

Weiss sighed disgustedly, "Fine, the sooner we're done with this maniac the quicker we can get back to Beacon. Just don't die, it'll look bad on my transcript."

We turned to face our adversary. He was a strange fellow, with a mask made to look like a Grimm, gray robes with three red claw marks on the left breast, and simple black pants and boots. He grinned at us with sharpened teeth. "I've made some upgrades to my baby, and you're gonna be her snack!" He cackled with malicious glee as he waved what appeared to be a chainsaw-rocket launcher in the air.

Weiss spun her dust cylinder, settling for her trademark ice dust. I stepped forward and planted Asbjorn. The beast had finished his laughing and eyed us hungrily. Finally the stalemate was broken when he charged. Letting out a huge roar, he fired multiple rockets at us while rumbling between destroyed shelves.

I peeked out over Asbjorn. My eyes went wide as I saw the incoming projectiles. _Oh shit._ My thoughts were interrupted by Weiss forming and ice wall to combat the missiles. The ensuing explosion blew me back a few feet and threw a huge misty haze everywhere, limiting my vision.

Out of nowhere, the Faunus leaped out of the mist and came down hard at me with his chainsaw, snarling all the way. I barely snapped Asbjorn into position before he made contact, narrowly avoiding a costly mistake, but it wasn't enough to throw him off. He merciless swung his weapon wide and powerfully, each hit delivering more force than the last. I deflected an attack to his side before cocking back and powering a punch through his nose, the ensuing blood spray ensuring me I did some damage. I was wrong.

His head snapped back into place, that chilling smile still etched on his face as he smashed the butt of his weapon into my gut and blasted me through the next two rows of shelves.

He leaped in the air, intending to impale me with his chainsaw, and I rolled out of the way a second before hand, his blade harrowingly close to causing my death. I dropped back panting as I sized up my opponent. He didn't give me much time though, as he resumed his attack.

"Thorben, duck!"

I dropped to the ground in a flash, Weiss zipping over me at supersonic speeds, a trail of yellow following behind her.

I looked on in awe as Weiss made contact with that monster. With each strike, new glyph appeared to redirect Weiss, and each redirection gave her attacks more power. It also didn't hurt that she was rapidly switching between different elements to attack with, be it red fire, blue ice, yellow lightning, or green wind.

Just when I thought Weiss had him on the ropes, the lieutenant roared and smashed Weiss into the ground, bouncing her up into the air in the process, and hit her with a side kick that made her fly through several rows of hunter accessories. I turned to look back the beast in gaping shock. I turned to find him right in my face.

A point-blank rocket later, and I landed next to Weiss. We both got shakily to our feet, bruises and ash everywhere as we stood in the wreckage of the nearly destroyed building. Weiss surveyed the carnage for a moment.

She turned angrily to the lieutenant. "Now you've just pissed me off even more! My favorite store, gone!" The beast just laughed at her.

I stood there thinking to myself in this temporary reprieve of the battle. _Not looking good. Me and Weiss aren't doing much, and at this rate, we won't make it. We need a way to beat this guy… wait, that's it!_

I turned to Weiss. "Look I have a plan. You can summon multiple glyphs at once right?"

"Yes, so what? You just saw what happened when I tried to beat him with that."

I shook my head in frustration before answering, "Just listen! Asbjorn's bow function has enough penetrating power to punch through trees. If we give it a little boost from your glyphs, I think we may just have enough to beat this guy!"

Weiss thought it over in her head before she nodded in agreement. I smiled. "We got this Weiss. Now we need to get him off balance. Let's go."

Weiss rushed him, while I followed quickly. He grinned savagely. "So you guys wanna play some more? Fine by me!"

Weiss ducked under one of his swings, and hit him with an upper cut from her rapier, staggering him. Immediately afterwards, she froze his feet to the ground. I activated my semblance to gain power, and I didn't hold anything back as I smashed Asbjorn into his chest, sending him flying and imbedding the monster in the far wall.

"Now Weiss!" I yelled as I switched Asbjorn to its bow function. Weiss stood next to me, and 5 glyphs appeared in front of where my arrow aimed. I fired and the bolt picked up speed with each glyph it passed through, as well as picking up each elemental trait. The end result was a supersonic arrow that made Thor drool.

The White Fang lieutenant looked up in a daze as he slowly started to try to excavate himself from the wall. "Why you little pests… I'm gonna make you pay for that one…" At this moment he decided to look up. Shock crossed his face. "Oh, piss."

The great arrow blasted through the Faunus and created a massive explosion of color, while collapsing the wall at the same time. The building began to implode.

"We need to move now!" Weiss yelled over the sound of the building's wailing death.

We rushed outside throwing ourselves out of harm's way. After the dust had settled, Weiss and I lay panting on the ground, our injuries from the fight now making their presence felt. Weiss was bleeding from a head wound and seemed to have sprained her wrist. I felt like a spear had been driven through my stomach, and I'm sure I didn't look to great either.

We both slowly got to our feet, with Weiss taking one last sad look upon the ruined store. I walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "There will always be other clothing stores out there Weiss. It's ok."

She didn't even look back as she deadpanned, "I'm not sad about the store. We left all our bags in there during the fight."

My jaw dropped. "How about we cut our losses and just get back to Beacon? I could use a hot shower and a nap."

She sighed tiredly. "Yes, that would be nice," we started to walk off, and Weiss continued, "and Thorben, you did a good job today."

I gave her the briefest smirk, but instead of being snide, I decided to take what I could get. "Tusen takk, laereren min." I said in native Atlesian. I figured Weiss would appreciate it. "Oh, and you've got a pretty cool rapier too, I guess."

Weiss smirked to herself as we walked along. "This _rapier_ has a name, you know. It's Myrtenaster, and I'd prefer if you started using it."

I had to pause for a moment. _Did ice cold Weiss Schnee just make a joke? What?_ I burst into uproarious laughter as we walked along. Man, did I have a story to share.

Little did I know that shadowy figure was observing the entire scene.

* * *

 **A/N: OooooOOOOoooohhhh mysterious ending! Set up for first arc beginnings! I promise that at somepoint when we don't suck at writing female characters that we will write for Amethyst!**

 **Well that was fun. As of this writing it is 12 am and we are exhausted but victorious. Sorry about the (maybe, sorta?) Power Rangers-esque finish to the second fight. It was a good idea, and it worked. As always guys, please Follow, Favorite, and Review. Oh, and til neste gang, mine venner!**

 **(Translations: Thank you very much, mentor./Until next time, my friends!)**


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